7 Weeks Out

What a week it was! I was very tired. I did 12K on both Tuesday and Wednesday. All day Wednesday I was struggling against tiredness at work. On Thursday when I woke to the alarm I didn't feel to brilliant and thought that I couldn't spend another day feeling as I had on Wednesday, so gave the run a miss. I set the alarm a little earlier for Friday morning and did 16K at 5:05 pace.

A heat wave hit us on Saturday. The temperature soared to about 44 degrees C in Ipswich, which is just west of Brisbane. I manaed to achieve a few things outside but had to keep retreating to the Air conditioned indoors. My running buddy, Tegwen, rang me to ask if I had thought of a shaded course for our planned 34k on Sunday. Hmmm! no such thing exists.

Fortunately the temperature dropped considerably late in the afternoon and remained fairly pleasant overnight. So Sunday morning was all go for 34K. Out and back from Park Road to a bit past Brett's Wharf. We managed to average 5:00 K's with no stops at taps on the way back. We just used our water bottles.

8 Weeks Out

A total of 80K's for the week. 4 12's during the week and 32 on Sunday. the first three 12's were a bit ordinary but on Friday I managed to get down to 57 minutes. On Tuesday to add some variety to my running I ran my old 12K circuit and on Thursday tried tried another circuit, not previously run, which didn't have as many hills. On Tuesday after my 12K I added 6 x 100m strides.

On Sunday I met Tegwen at Park Road for a 32'er. We dicided that after last week's flat 28 along the river we needed a character building run so opted for the Western Freeway, Seventeen Mile Rocks, Oxley, Indooroopilly, UQ, circuit. The Western Freeway bikepath is quite hilly and from Seventeen Mile Rocks to Oxley is one long continuous hill. I reckon we had enough character to last us a while by the time we got back to Park Road. we finisde the run in 2:42, a bit under 5:05 pace. Next week is 34K and we have already decided that it will be to Brett's Wharf and back. nice and flat.

I am not putting the effort to achieve anything extra special at Canberra this year. I put on entry form that I hoped to run it in 3:25. Anything better than that will be a bonus (I am hoping there will be a bonus tough) ;-)

9 Weeks Out

The K's were a bit low this week. I missed a 12K run on Tuesday because it was pelting rain. Yes I know, I'm a sook. So it was 12K on Wednesday in 1:01, 12K Thursday in 1:02 and 12K Friday in 0:59. I just seemed to be getting slower.

I spent a big day in the yard on Saturday and on Saturday night was totally stuffed and to top it off, didn't sleep well. This morning the alarm went off at 4:05 and I just didn't feel up to a long run. However, that's the good thing about running with others, you arrange to meet and you just have to be there. So at 5:00AM I met Tegwen and Cathy at Park Road. The run this morning was 28K. After the tough 34K last Sunday we opted for a flat out and back along the river to Newstead. We finished with 28.3 in 2:18. That is an average pace of 4:53. Cathy had turned back at 13K and Tegwen and I turned up the pace on the way back. I was feeling really good and able to sustain a steady pace all the way. I was very pleased with the morning's effort. The running conditions were idyllic and there were lots of runners and cyclists out today.

It just leaves me wondering why I can run at 4:53 for the long run and yet find it so difficult to get under 5:00 min K's for my 12 K runs during the week. But then, maybe the reason I can run better on the Long Runs is because I don't push myself too hard during the week. At this point I have done no speed nor hill work.

A total of 64K this week. I had better try and get a few more in next week. Only 9 weeks left.

10 Weeks Out

Well sure enough, Tegwen made it to Park Road last Monday morning. After arriving home from the UK at 11:00PM the night before she was there ready to go at 5:30AM. We ran 15K. A pretty good effort on her part, wouldn't you say. Definitely crazy! She is planning on doing the 50K in Canberra again this year after being 3rd among the ladies last year.

I ran 12K from home on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. On Thursday I had to meet some friends at Southbank for breakfast. Yesterday, Sunday, we ran 34K, some of it in pouring rain. It took us 2:52, a tad over 5:00 min K's. We did a loop from Park Road via UQ to Indooroopilly, Chelmer, Tennyson, Yeronga, Fairfield, Dutton Park, Highgate Hill, West End, William Jolly bridge, and back to Park Road.

That was a total of 85K for the week and I am again pleased to report that my knees have improved even more. Apart from having to have a little lie down on Sunday afternoon I have has no other after effects from the long run.

Don't worry Horrie, lots of people still call me Eddie. I think Eddie will be around for a while yet.

11 Weeks Out

Ah! at last a week when I have felt good and my knees haven't been killing me. I ran 4 mornings during the week, 12K each time.

Monday was rest day. Tuesday I had a slow start but gradually improved along the way to finish in 1:01. I repeated this on Wednesday and Thursday put a little extra effort in and finished in 1:00. Friday, having been pleased with the fact that my knees weren't giving me as much gyp, I set out a little faster. I find that if I do this it makes a marked difference to my overall time. I finished Friday's run in 57:40.

An unusual event occurred on Tuesday. A fox ran accross the road ahead of me. I saw a fox on Mt Coot-tha once but the is the first one I have seen locally in the 34 years I have lived in Ipswich .

Today I ran from Park Road and ran to the green bridge at UQ and then through West End via Dornoch Terrace and Riverside Drive, through South Bank, over the Goodwill Bridge, through the City Gardens, turned around at Edward St, received a nice hello from Anna, our runner Queensland Premier, then headed back to Park Road. A total of 22K at 5:00 pace (the last couple of K at 4:30).

Yesterday, while I was out, Robyn took a call from Tegwen who said she wasn't back in Australia yet but could I let her know what run I had planned for Monday Public Holiday..she's keen. That's why I cut my run a bit short today, so that I have something left for tomorrow.

I finished the week with 70K and feeling good about it.

12 Weeks Out

I turned 56 yesterday, so it has been an easy week. That's my excuse. Monday was a rest day and Tuesday turned out to be one too. Wednesday was 14K at 5:11 pace and Thursday was 10K at the same pace. Friday I missed because I had to be in the City early to have breakfast with my friends, Darryl and Michelle, with whom I am going to New York. They are seasoned travellers and will be able to show me the ropes. Saturday I worked in the yard and today I did 30K from Park Road along the Brisbane River. I was wearing my Garmin, thinking it had plenty of charge left in it. However, when I got to the tap at the Edward St entrance to the City Gardens I went to check my time/pace and all I had was a blank face. It was not a reflection of my own face I can tell you.

Fortunately I knew where the 15K turnaround was along Kingsford Smith Drive but I have no idea of pace or time. I felt OK when I got back so maybe I was not trying hard enough.

13 Weeks Out

13 weeks till the Canberra Marathon. Scott says 12 in his Blog. Maybe I have miscounted.

I was a bit slack in my training this week. Wednesday's 14K just didn't happen. I woke to the alarm and just couldn't get out of bed.

Today I did 26K. An out and back along the Brisbane River from Park Road. I didn't manage the same pace as last week, however, I was happy enough with 2:15 for the 26.

Peterhorse passed me on his bike. It's always good to get a friendly cheer when your out there struggling.

This weeks mileage:

Tuesday 12K
Thursday 12K
Friday 12K
Sunday 26K, 2:15, 5:11pace
Total 62K

During the week I submittted my registration form to the travel agency, Travelling Fit, to book my spot for the New York Marathon. I am already excited. I can't imagine what I am going to be like as the time gets closer.

Am I There Yet?

That's what I kept asking myself this morning. I set out from Park Road at 5:00 all by myself with the intention of running to Newstead and back, a little over 28K. At about 12K I was toying with the idea of cutting the run short and cutting accross to the Hospital and Vic Park. The humidity was incredible and I knew that much of the return trip along the river from Newstead would be in full sun. However, once I got to Newstead House I gave myself a severe talking to and headed back the way I came. I was so glad to get back to Park Road. I was stuffed. The run was 28.35K at average 5:01 pace, a total time of 2:22:20. I am glad I toughed it out and did the 28.

My week:

Tuesday 13K; 1:05; 5:00 pace
Wednesday 12K; 1:02; 5:10 pace
Thursday 9K; 0:47; 5:17 pace
Friday 7K; 0:32; 4:52 pace
Sunday 28K; 2:22:20; 5:01pace

Total for the week 69K

1 January 2008

First day of the New Year! Where did 2007 go? It just seemed to fly by. What a year! Some highlights for me were:

• Marathon PB in Canberra - 3:14:55



• 3rd in my category (55-59) in the Queensland Half Marathon.



• My daughter, Cynthia, graduated from Uni, Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Commerce.

Cynthia with her proud Mum and Dad.


2008 will be a big year. I have booked my flights for Canberra for my 10th marathon. In the next week or so I have to start forking out the money for the trip to the US which will include the New York Marathon. I will probably also do the Gold Coast Marathon.

Happy New Year.

Xmas Running

Yesterday I set out from Park Road at 5:00AM. Tegwen bougth along some of her Tuesday/Thrusday running buddies, Tony, Gerrard (Gossens) and Brian. We ran to the Goodwill Bridge then to Highgate Hill and on to the Green Bridge. Gerrard and Brian left us at this point and headed back to Park Road while the rest of us headed up river to somewhere behind the Indooroopilly Golf Course (I think). We covered 20k all up, in very humid conditions.

Tegwen and her family are off overseas for a month so I will be missing a running buddy till February. It might give me a chance to keep up with her when we are in serious training for Canberra..... for the first couple of weeks at least.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone. Thank you for all your support, encouragement and interest during 2007. I hope 2008 wiil see you attain all those goals you have been dreaming of.

Rob

Hi Folks

Hi Folks,

I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back to my blog. Life gets a little hectic sometimes. though I do admit that I did spend some time away with my lovely wife, Robyn.

The 500K Relay was, again, an absolutely terrific experience. Our team, Southern Cross Runners, came 10th out of 18 teams. We didn't do as well as we would have liked but it certainly wasn't for the lack of trying. The whole team worked extremely well together with each memeber putting in a super effort.

I ran 7 times over the three days, 3 Friday, 3 Saturday and 1 Sunday. Runs averaged 5K and varied in degree of dificulty according to the terrain. Each leg of the relay has a grading from 1 to 10, 10 being the most difficult. One of mine was graded 9, but after running it i wuold have graded it about 8. The majority are graded at about 4 or 5. Though running 7 times over three days does not sound a lot, the the issue is that you run them as hard as you possibly can because you really don't want to let your team mates down. This, combined with sleep deprivation, results in you being totally stuffed by the end of the weekend. None of of this detracts from it being a terrific experience.

As for which will be my 10th Marathon.......... Canberra 2008 of course!

Less Than week to the 500K Relay

Next weekend is the 500K Summer Challenge. This will be my 5th 500K Relay. It's such a fantastic weekend. This year the course has changed a lot due to problems getting Police permits to run on main roads. We set out on Friday morning from Helensvale again this year but instead of finishing in Ipswich we are finishing in Gatton.

This morning Tegwen and I did 17k at 5:00 min pace. I really enjoyed the run today and finished feeling quite good. I would like to be able to report that I have been clocking up the sort of K's that Robert Song has but not so.

Two Times Over

Tegwen, my running buddy, was celebrating her birthday today and decided to do that by running from Park Road to Mt Cootha, completing two laaps and back to Park Road. We ran with Tony, a guy Tegwen does speed work with, who is competing in a Triple Triathlon in Canberra in a couple of weeks. He is one of a three man team and is doing the running. Needless to say, he beat us to the top on both laps.

We did 27K's all up but it did take us 2:33 which was a tad on the slow side but I, for one, could not have run Mt Cootha any faster. I was totally stuffed.

Last Wednesday evening I competed in my 7th Cool Night Classic. This marked the 6th aniversary of my first ever fun run. This year's Cool Night Classic was incresed in length from 5.13K's to 5.75K's. I finished in 24:24. Under 25 minutes as I had hoped. I did the 5.13 last year in 21:55 so I have slowed a bit.

Jacaranda Festival 10K

For the third year in a row I ran in the Goodna Jacaranda Festival 10K Fun Run. This year I had a post on CoolRunning. That attracted two CR's, Aidan Hobbs and Graham. We had a field of about 30 runners. A bit disappointing for such an easy going no fuss run. I enterented in the over 55 category as did a local running identity, Tom Nugent. Tom is very fast and won our category and also came in 3rd overall. Darryl Crooke won the race for the third year in a row. He ran 33:25. Aidan came in 20 seconds behind Darryl. David Topp from the Brisbane Road Runners came in 4th. I came 2nd in my category at 43:25 and 7th overall. Barry McGaffin of Intraining came third.

There were presentations after the event. Category winners were awarded trophies and cash prizes. I received an engraved medal and $30 cash. My first ever cash prize. After anouncing the category winners, Darryl, Aidan and David were in the Open category, they then awarde prizes to the overall place-getters. I thought that would be the first three but they continued on to the 7th place and I received another $30. How's that! Don't worry I don't plan on giving up my day job.

At Last!

At last! A Sunday run that I feel good about. I met running buddy Tegwen at Park Road at 5:30AM. Tegwen has recovered well from her ankle injury so we decided to stretch ourselves a bit and run some extra K's. We ran along the river to Newstead then cut accross to the Brisbane General Hospital, on through Victoria Park to Gregory Terrace, the Normanby, Petrie Terrace, Milton Road and arrives back at Park Road in 1:43 having covered 21K. We were pretty pleased with ourselves.

I spent the rest of the day working on the cubby. I still have a lot to do.

A Good Week

Well at last I have managed to run 4 days in a row.

My week: Sunday 10K - 44:15, Monday - rest, Tuesday 12K - 57:20, Wedneday 12K - 56:20, Thursday 6K - 31M, Friday 12K - 56:40.

This morning I forced my myself not to look at my watch until I pressed the stop button at the end. I am a bit time obsessed. I was pleased with my effort today as it didn't feel as if I was working as hard as I was on Wednesday.

Tonight at 10:45 Robyn, my wife, arrives back in Brisbane after touring Europe with her sister for three weeks. She will be exhausted. I am looking forward to meeting her at the airport.

I have finally committed myself to running in the 500K relay again this year. There has been a change to the team. Previously we were callled Brisbane Road Runners, howerver gradually the team has been comprised more and more of Toowoomba runners and we get sponsorship from Toowoomba businesses so the name has been changed to Southern Cross. Our major sponsor is Southern Cross Ford who supply us with vehicles.

Something Concrete

I have had to give up my 12 k circuit for a while as most of it is run on concrete paths. My right knee and hip were beginning to get to painful after running the circuit. I now run a 12K, 6K out and back, course. Most of this is on bitumen but 2K of the 6 is dirt track wit a few ruts and ridges. I have run this three times now and am beginning to get some relief in my knee and hip. The knee pain is such that if I sit in one position for too long the pain gradually increases to the point I feel nauseous. This can happen on my 35 min train trip to work. Once I can move or stretch my leg it is almost instant relief.

Anyway, my first new 12 k was 1:02, 2ND 1:04 and the third, today, was 57:30.

On Sunday I ran the 10k In 44:15 at Brisbane Road Runners at West End. It was the Road Runners 25 year anniversary. They had a good turn out. The run was free and included, breakfast and sausage sizzle, and free coffee from one of those mobile machines. It was a very pleasant run and morning.

A Perfect Sunday

Well that will teach me not to read CR for a while. I drove to from Ipswich to Toowoomba on Sunday morning, arriving at the Hilly Half start at 6:15 to find one runner, Greg, there just in case some poor bunny didn't get the message that the race had been cancelled.

Greg offered me a bottle of wine for my trouble. After accepting the wine and preparing to return home, Greg informed me that some of the Toowoomba Road Runners were meeting at 7:00 and running the course just as their Sunday long run. I said that will do me and set off in a group of about 12. We took it fairly easy at the start then a small group started pulling away so I thought I might as well put in a bit of an effort and set off with them.

It was a pretty tough course which took me 1:46 to complete. As I was running I was wondering how I would be going if it was a race. Not very much better I think.

So the morning wasn't a write off. I go to run the Hilly Half, which I hadn't done before, I met some very friendly runners, got a bottle wine and I didn't have to pay $30 entry fee. The weather was perfect. A good morning by all accounts.

Many thanks to Greg, Joe, Trevor, Glen, Denis, Roger, Robert and the other Toowoomba runners for their friendly hospitality and a good run.

I drove home, stopping at Maca's near Gatton on the way for a Delux Brekie Roll. I arrived home at about 11:00AM and spent the rest of the day working on the cubby. I slept well last night. I was stuffed.

The Morning After

This morning when the alarm went off at 4:40 and I awoke with a shock. It seemed like my head had just hit the pillow. It also felt like it had been hit by a brick for, in fact my head had only just hit the pillow about 2.5 hours before. That was when I had arrived home after the Ball. I had a fantastic time at the Ball but at a cost, so my head was telling me. The Ball was the ENERGEX (the company I work for) Spring Ball organised by the Recreation Club. There were over 500 in attendance most of whom seemed to be on the dance floor all at one time due to the music provide by an excellent band.

I headed to Park Road and ran 15K at a 5:25 pace, the best I could manage.

Robyn, my wife, did not accompany me to the Ball because she is holidaying in Paris with her sister.

There was no progress on the cubby this weekend due to other commitments on Saturday and some post Ball recuperation today.

Return of the Running Buddy

At last my running buddy, Tegwen, joined us for a run this morning. She still has to to take it easy, at least running wise. Last week she swam 10K in the UQ pool. Today we did 15K at about 5:15, a nice comfortable pace. It was good to have her back.

Below are some photos of progress on the cubby. It has been a bit slow due to weekends away at the City 2 Surf and the Noosa Half. That's me on the roof. A not very comfortable position I might add.